Russian submarine mission to Cuba: A high-cost propaganda plunge

The voyage of the team of Russian ships to Cuba was an important propaganda success for the Kremlin. Widely publicised, it became an opportunity for an acoustic "hunt" for the Kazan submarine of project 885M. Russian commentators point out that the decision to send the pinnacle of Russian technical thought on this mission was a mistake.

The visit made by the Russian squadron to Cuba from 12 to 17 June was presented by the Kremlin's propaganda as an essential success. The real significance of the voyage of just two warships – the Kazan submarine and the Admiral Gorshkov frigate – accompanied by a tugboat and a tanker is hard to consider substantial.

Especially since the price Russia paid for a few days of propaganda glory may prove to be very high.

This point is noted by Western and Russian commentators, such as Alexander Tymochen from the Topwar.ru service because with the information about the Russian ships' voyage, a specific "hunt" began in the Atlantic.

Knowing the destination of the Russian ships, the United States made efforts not only to track their location but – above all – to gather as much data as possible about the Kazan submarine.

This was made possible by continuous patrols of American and Canadian maritime reconnaissance aircraft, such as the P-8 Poseidon or the P-3 Orion, which, apart from radars, had a set of hydroacoustic buoys. These are sensors (both active and passive) dropped from the aircraft and used to detect submerged submarines.

For years, Americans risked sailing their submarines very close to Russian ones to gather as much data as possible, which led to numerous collisions. In this case, there was no such necessity.

Strict surveillance of the Kazan aimed not only to track the submarine's movements but above all to create the most accurate possible acoustic and behavioural profile – a database containing the sounds emitted by the Russian submarine and the way it moves in the water.

In the future, this will make it easier to trace the Kazan and its sister units, partially negating the key advantage of these submarines, which is the exceptionally high level of silencing for the Russian fleet. Why is the ability to listen to the sounds emitted by a Russian submarine so important to Americans?

Kazan, along with the rest of the Project 885/885M submarines (five completed, others are in various stages of construction), are unique units. The submarine represents project 885 (Yasen class) – the last one developed during the USSR era and produced in Russia. Only one submarine of Project 855 was built – the rest of the series, including Kazan, are units of the modified, improved Project 855M.

Unlike the submarines designed after the dissolution of the USSR, such as the units of Project 955 (Borei class) and especially Project 677 (Lada class), project 885/885M is refined, surpassing newer designs in certain respects, including silencing levels.

The design work began back in the 1970s, carried out by the Malachite bureau, which was responsible for many successful Soviet submarine projects. The submarine designers decided to tackle the greatest flaw of nuclear-powered units – the high noise level, particularly at higher speeds.

For this reason, the project 885M submarines were very carefully soundproofed, surpassing all other submarines from the USSR and Russia in this respect, and also most American designs, except for a few Seawolf and Virginia class submarines.

Technical advancement goes hand in hand with the price – project 885M submarines are almost twice as expensive as much larger project 955 units (the cost of construction and equipment can reach up to £1.6 billion). Due to their specificity, they are also designed for different tasks than nuclear "boomers." What was their purpose in design and construction?

Russian nuclear-powered submarines with intercontinental ballistic missiles currently serve – due to the range of their weaponry – the role of coastal submersible launch platforms.

They don’t need to be extremely quiet, as their purpose is to operate near their own coast, under the protective umbrella provided by their own navy and coastal anti-ship missile launchers like Bal or Bastion.

The project 855M units have a different specificity – they are attack submarines (SSGNs). Although they are equipped with nuclear propulsion, ensuring unlimited range and the ability to stay underwater for a long time, these submarines are armed with cruise missiles – their purpose is to carry out conventional attacks on sea and land targets, possible without causing World War III. This is enabled by the 32-container VLS launcher, which can launch missiles like Kalibr, Oniks, or Tsirkon.

For this reason, the project 885M submarines must operate much closer to the enemy, without the protection provided by their own forces. Therefore, in their case, soundproofing plays a primary role, allowing for covert operations and survival far from their own support.

Besides soundproofing the propulsion itself, the hull of Project 885 submarines was coated with a special anechoic coating. The Germans developed this solution during World War II and refined it by the Soviets in the 1970s. The anechoic coating is an external layer of the hull made of plastic and rubber tiles.

Its role is to absorb and scatter the signal emitted by enemy sonars. In practice, this is equivalent to the stealth features known from aviation designs and reduces the sonar signature by up to 20 decibels, which in certain conditions translates to up to 50% smaller chances of detecting the submarine.

An additional benefit of using the anechoic coating is to muffle the sounds coming from inside the submarine. Although the Russians were pioneers of this solution in modern times, it is now widely used worldwide.

The feature that makes the Project 885M submarines particularly dangerous to the opponent is their ability to sail fast while remaining silent underwater. In submarine specifications, maximum underwater speeds often reach 35 mph or more.

Maximum underwater speed is essential, but a submarine sailing at that speed makes so much noise that it’s easy to locate and destroy. Therefore, the ability to sail as fast as possible without generating a high noise level is more important than that.

In the case of Project 885 submarines, this value is probably around 23 mph (unverified sources report even 32 mph) and is the highest among all nuclear-powered submarines in the Russian fleet. Thanks to the Americans gathering an accurate sonic "business card" of Project 885M submarines, this significant advantage of the Russian submarine has partially lost its significance.